Holiday accommodation in Windsor and Maidenhead – Windsor Castle, parks and culture

Culture

The museums of Windsor and Maidenhead also preserve very different traces of the past. Windsor Guildhall Museum conveys the history of Windsor and the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead through interactive exhibitions and an audio trail featuring stories from local residents. Its collection includes, among other things, a 100,000-year-old mammoth tusk and a model of a Hawker Hurricane.

Maidenhead Heritage Centre is an accredited museum dedicated to the history of Maidenhead and the Air Transport Auxiliary. Its wartime headquarters were located at White Waltham airfield during the Second World War. The permanent exhibition “Grandma Flew Spitfires” also includes a Spitfire simulator.

In Eton, the museums and galleries of the Eton College Collections are regularly open to the public on weekend afternoons. The Museum of Eton Life conveys the experiences of learning, playing and living at Eton College over six centuries. The museums and gallery of Eton College are open to the public free of charge on Sunday afternoons from 13:30 to 16:00. The Eton Walkway is a two-mile circular route connecting 18 places of interest.

The Stanley Spencer Gallery in Cookham offers guided walks covering Stanley Spencer’s life and art, as well as the village that inspired his vision of a “Village in Heaven”. The gallery has level access and a lift to the exhibition area on the gallery level.

Nature

Windsor Great Park combines extensive parkland with distinctive gardens. The Deer Park is home to around 500 red deer. Some of the ancient oaks in Windsor Great Park are up to 1,000 years old. The park and garden are designated as a Grade I site and registered for their special historic interest.

The Long Walk is a five-kilometre avenue bordered by lawns and a double avenue of horse chestnut and plane trees. Charles II originally laid out the Long Walk in 1685 as an avenue of oaks and elms; the king used it for walking and deer hunting in the Great Park.

Windsor Great Park is open year-round from 7 a.m. until dusk. Admission to the public areas is free, except for Savill Garden, while parking charges apply. Savill Garden covers 35 acres of gardens, woodland and seasonal displays. The Valley Gardens extend across 250 acres of undulating valleys with azaleas, magnolias and exotic blooms.

The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead includes more than 23 wildlife areas, including designated Local Nature Reserves; all are freely accessible to the public. Alongside the landscaped park and garden areas, this places protected natural spaces within the borough at the centre of attention.

Activities

Dorney Lake covers 400 acres with an arboretum, meadows and a nature reserve. The lake serves as a managed rowing course, nature reserve and venue for various uses. It has a 2,200-metre rowing course as well as a flat, paved three-mile circular route suitable for wheelchairs and pushchairs.

At the heart of Windsor Great Park lies Adventure Play, a handmade children’s playground. LEGOLAND Windsor Resort offers more than 55 rides and attractions. The resort is two miles from Windsor town centre and offers a chargeable shuttle bus from stops near both of Windsor’s railway stations.

The Royal Windsor Horse Show has taken place every year since 1943 and hosts international competitions in show jumping, dressage, driving and eventing. Royal Windsor Racecourse can also be reached from Windsor town centre by a riverboat that docks at a private landing stage at the racecourse.

Other places

For further exploration of Windsor and Maidenhead, the location links lead to Windsor, Cookham, Datchet, Old Windsor, Maidenhead, Hurley, Sunninghill, Sunningdale, Wraysbury and Ascot.

For the higher-level travel overview: South East England.